[Video] E-mart’s new discount store attracts shoppers on opening day

Hundreds of shoppers flocked to the first branch of E-mart’s new discount store chain Pierrot Shopping on its opening day Thursday.

Located at Coex in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, the two-story shop garnered anticipation on the internet before its opening. Curious shoppers flooded the store, forming long checkout lines, while onlookers at the shopping mall turned their heads.

(Shot and edited by Park Ju-young / The Korea Herald)

The new discount store chain by Shinsegae, which runs discount retailer E-mart across the nation, offers a variety of items including cosmetics, foreign snacks and home appliances. Even luxury goods, sex toys and a smoking room are available here, living up to the store’s main concepts of “fun” and “crazy.”

Inside the store, which is packed with colorful signs and eye-popping displays, some staff members wore T-shirts that said they do not know where all the items are, inviting shoppers to dive into a sort of treasure hunt.

Pierrot Shopping is being touted as South Korea’s answer to Don Quijote, a famous Japanese discount retailer that has become a must-visit attraction in Japan among South Koreans. The new brand resembles the latter both in appearance and concept.

By Yim Hyun-su (hyunsu@heraldcorp.com)